The Kings are scheduled to open their defense of their first Stanley Cup on Oct. 12, with the New York Rangers visiting Staples Center.

They are supposed to raise their championship banner and celebrate their greatest triumph.

But it seems as if it will be as quiet as a library inside the cavernous arena.

The NHL on Thursday canceled the remainder of the exhibition season because of its ongoing lockout of its players, all but eliminating the possibility that the regular season would start on time early next month.

The first games were scheduled for Oct. 11.

Representatives for the league and the players' union are schedule to meet today, but there has been little or no progress in what have been seen as half-hearted talks between the two sides. The league earlier cancelled all exhibitions for September.

"The cancellation of the preseason schedule was necessary because of the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players' Association and the NHL," the league said in an email statement released Thursday.

The NHL locked out its players Sept. 15, when the old collective bargain agreement expired. The league imposed a gag-rule, forbidding coaches and team executives from speaking about the lockout under penalty of fine.

At issue is the best way to break up the league's revenue, which was a record $3.3 billion for 2011-12. The owners want to give the players a smaller piece of the pie, just as NBA owners wished during a lockout that delayed their 2011-12 season.

The NHL's owners won huge concessions from the players in the wake of the protracted labor impasse that forced the cancelation of the 2004-05 season, with a new salary cap put into place that was imposed to ensure cost certainty.

This time, in addition to a reduced share for players, owners want to limit the contracts of entry-level players and to tighten the rules for unrestricted free agency, tying superstars and budding superstars to their teams for longer periods.

"Obviously, we've got to talk before you can get a deal, so I think it's important to get the talks going again," Bill Daly, deputy NHL commissioner, told reporters earlier in the week. "But you have to have something to say.

"I think it's fair to say we feel like we need to hear from the players' association in a meaningful way because I don't think that they've really moved off their initial proposal, which was made more than a month ago now."

Steve Fehr, the union's special counsel, told reporters Tuesday the players were pleased new talks were scheduled for today. Time is running short for a resolution and for the regular season to begin as scheduled, however.